Page 2...The Portland Observer...February 19,1992
p e r s p e c tiv e s
•
BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT UNE
by James Posey
g by Professor McKinley Burt
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
Construction Opportunities:
Storm Clouds Over Oregon State
University Campus
W e knew it was coming; a resur
gence of that old "Newest Immigrant
Prejudice" that has bedeviled this nation
from colonial times. As you have learned
from earlier articles here, successive
waves o f European immigrants have
adopted "holier-than-thou" stances over
their predecessors. What we did not
expect was that this type of overt racism
would still be alive and welVon the OSU
campus in 1992.
W e say it was expected because of
the growing onslaught of right-wing
tirades and polemics launched against
anyone in sight (even each other) by the
desperate politicos involved in current
campaigns. It is in times like these, of
economic downturn and of hate mes
sages by the David Dukes, that we find
the economically insecure and the so
cially threatened looking for scape
goats— someone to blame.
One February 3, The Daily Barom
eter,OSU*s campus newspaper, featured
a rather shocking article by editorial
page editor, Ken Hile; "hundreds of
illegal aliens from Mexico scurry across
the border like ants...if they can't find
jobs they turn to welfare or to thievery to
support themselves and their families."
But this Senior in the school of Journal
ism is not through yet-D oes the follow
ing frighten you? "Pretty soon this coun
try will be so wrought in crime, drugs,
poverty, unemployment and so on that
AMERICANS who have been citizens
in this land for generations will be flee
ing to more prosperous nations to search
for a competent government that allows
for opportunity." (Original Native
Americans might have once had the
same thought.)
Like w here? Japan, R ussia,
Singapore, Taiwan? I'm just being face
tious of course; it is rather scary when we
consider the level of thinking that would
generate the title for the column: "Immi
gration Policy Will Kill Our Already
Floudering Economy." Mr. Hile then
proceeded to chastise the government
for failing to crack down on Mexicans
and Haitians before unemployment be
came unbearable. He sees the Hispanics
as "picking plants and remaining seem
ingly happy."
We deplore the fact that the young
man is no better acquainted with num
bers than economics, and we ask, "How
could a top rated school of journalism
produce a senior who apparently has not
read any of the vast data bank on current
immigration policy and legislation?
Doesn't he read NcwsWeek, Time, U. S.
News & World Report, The Washington
Post, The New York Tim es-H ow iso
lated is Corvallis? It is more likely that
the case is as we first put it, the Right
Wingers are getting their racist message
across.
The Oregonian for Monday, Febru-
ary 17, carried an interesting commen
tary on the scene, "Column brings racism
issue at OSU to surface" (by George
Rede, Staff). Comments solicited from
people like Robin Dellinger, student ad
vocate for the Associated Students of
OSU and NarcieRodriguez-Smithacoun-
selor for the Educational Opportunities
Program indicated to me that nothing
favorable in terms of race relations has
happened at this university in the last two
decades.
I began visiting OSU at the request of
demeaned black students as far back as
1971, the same year I began teaching at
Portland State University. It has been a
constant saga o f trials and tribulation
over issues and faculty conduct you would
not find in Alabama or Mississippi. In
Portland, the home of many of the ha
rassed students, I have spent time with
both parents and attorneys seeking solu
tions to ploys clearly designed to deprive
African Americans of higher educational
opportunities.
One was told something by the bold
ness and the hostility of these "educators"
in their confrontations with black stu
dents or parent. Their racist language left
little to wonder about in terms of their
attitudes or culturc-not all of course, but
few protested, very few. The Oregonian
article hints at changes to come, but at
this far north citadel of the Confederacy
it will have to be seen to be believed.
“ Roots” - An Ode to Alex Haley
BY BENJAMIN F. CHAVIS JR.
African American History Month
1992 witnessed the passing of a great
writer and historian. Alex Haley’s con
tributions to African and American his
tory were remarkable and the impact of
his writings and research will have a
long lasting imprint on the history of the
United States.
Haley was bom in Ithaca, New York,
in 1921 and was reared in the southern
town of Henning, Tennessee. As the
author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning
book, “Roots; The Sage Of An Ameri
can Family,” Alex Haley won the admi
ration of millions o f persons throughout
the world. This bold African American
writer with the stroke of his pen was able
to shatter the false stereotypic view about
the so-called impossibility of tracing
African American genealogies back to
Africa.
In fact, “Roots” was so successful
that the book and television dramatiza
tion helped to inspire the establishment
of thousands of community genealogi
cal societies and family reunion clubs
among African Americans. “Roots” also
made a significant contribution to re
minding all persons about the hideous
and brutal nature of the American and
European slave trade.
Although there were some who
argued that “Roots” romanticized the
awful pain and misery of slavery in the
United States, we believe that Alex
Haley should be given credit, praise
and respect for getting as much of the
salve reality as he did on prime time
television for the entire nation to see. It
has been reported that more than 130
million viewers tuned in to watch the
ABC television broadcast of “Roots”
back in 1977.
Even before the publication of
“Roots,” Haley had made history with
the publication of “The Autobiogra
phy of Malcolm X,” which also be
came a best seller. With the renewed
interest in the life and struggle of
Malcolm X, we are thankful that Haley
was able to help document the evolu
tion of Malcolm into an international
leader.
Dr. Dorothy Height described Alex
Haley as “a modem prophet.” We agree.
A prophet does more than foretell the
future. Haley, in the prophetic tradi
tion of the African American liberation
movement spoke and wrote about his
tory by stressing its importance for the
present. When millions of persons read
©Ife ^ n rila u h (©bseriier
and watched “Roots,” a better national
consciousness emerged concerning the
urgency of doing more in the present to
challenge the lingering vestiges of sla
very, segregation and all forms of ra
cial injustice.
Justabouta month before Haley’s
death, national cable television net
works re-broadcasted “Roots” to mil
lions of other viewers. One way to pay
tribute to the legacy of Alex Haley is to
continue his work of researching the
“truth” of the magnitude and details of
the trade and slavery of African people.
As the nation observes the 500th
anniversary of Columbus discovering
“that he was lost,” it would be a fitting
ode to Alex Haley for a national in
quiry into the truth of 500 years of
exploitation of the peoples of Africa,
North and South America, and of the
Caribbean.
Alex Haley was 70 years old and
died from a heart attack while prepar
ing to lecture in Seattle, Washington.
Haley enjoyed his work and took seri
ous his labor of historical research. We
thank God for the life and gifts of Alex
Haley. We will understand belter, due
to the labor of Haley, the common
roots of all humanity.
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Sharon Camarda
Gary Ann Garnett
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Is It An Avenue To
Realizing King’s Dream
BY JAMES POSEY
This article is about economic con
flict and how we must take the battle to
our adversaries. Some may be offended
by that characterization but in truth
there can be no real peace and harmony
until there is some degree of economic
parity between the races. While the
battle is not fought with guns and bul
lets, there are causalities nonetheless.
The various programs affecting busi
ness and work opportunities in con
struction is a battle field. And because
a winning mental attitude is often the
difference between victory and defeat,
I think it is important to discuss the
prevalent psychology of dependency in
the African-American community.
In January like many communities
across the nation we in Portland cele
brated the birthday of Dr. Martin Lu
ther King and his dream of equality for
all. More than 25 years after his death
I think today Dr. Martin Luther King
would be disturbed to know that his
dream in real terms today is beginning
to turn into a nightmare. The scary fact
is his dream which included equal ac
cess and opportunity, to some extent
has been overtaken by a cycle of de
pendency in the African-American com
munity that has reached catastrophic
proportions.
As a comm unity wc are reported to
be addic ted to every thing from too m uc h
television to the chronic use of crack
cocaine. But maybe the most harmful
and devastating addiction is what ap
pears to be an all consuming depend
ence on social service oriented pro
grams and the corresponding blaming
BY LILLIAN SPEARS
Throughout the ages, slavery, in
one form or another, has been a part of,
or impacted on, or otherwise affected
every culture in the history of civiliza
tion. It has many forms and manifesta
tions; but the most basic characteristic
of slavery is the coercive subjugation of
a person to another person, or to the
strictures of a political, religious, or
socioeconomic system, or a combina
tion o fallof these. However unctuously
stated, the motivation is greed, and the
aim and objective is exploitative gain
or power. The result for the subjugated
is the suppression, distortion, or even
destruction of the sacred potential for
spontaneous, creative freedom inher
ent in every human psyche.
Always, from childhood, slavery
has haunted me. I am a white woman
who grew up in Alabama, and I have
lived in other parts of the deep South,
thus spending my childhood in the back
wash of the Civil War. Even as a grow
ing child, something about this subject
began to trouble me; I kept running
head-on into strange social and ethical
paradoxes. For exam ple-and this is
only one typical example-early on, I
heard that we, the white people, had
really been great benefactors of the
slaves; for wc had “civilized” them and
introduced them to Christianity. Then,
on the other hand, the Sunday school
teacher told a story from the Old Bible
involving slavery. It was about the gross
and brutal injustice of Joseph’s broth
ers, who sold him into slavery.
As 1 grew older, I became absorbed
in studying more about this whole puz
zling relationship. Obviously, most of
the available information centered
around the particular form of slavery
that developed in the United States; and
I learned that it was a comparatively
vicious form of the age-old institution.
Also, ours, too, had been based on the
bottom line of greed and exploitation:
the desire to get something for nothing
by exploiting the labor and capabilities
of one class to enhance the power and
status of another. Gradually, as the raw
and brutal nature of slavery became
of white folks for our foes. Evidence of
this mind set shows up in our everyday
discussions when we talk routinely about
such subjects as the African American
male becoming an endangered species.
Are we becoming increasingly fatalis
tic about our future, giving away power
to change our own circumstance? No
doubt we need to examine our own
heads and hopefully shift our focus to a
more positive self-determining plat
form. Meanwhile there is no fear that
we will lose sight of the fact that racism
is a continuing source of torment to the
African-American community. The
point is, while these negative forces are
formidable, we must claim our respon-
siblity and reassert our power to deter
mine our destiny. I .ikewisc we need to
do more to show appreciation to our
majority culture friends and supporters
who have stood by us and proven to be
invested in the high ideals of justice and
equality. Many of them work tirelessly
on our behalf because they also share
the dream of Dr. Martin Luther '.ing of
a world living in peace and harmony.
On the other hand, we must be more
leery of those wide eyed liberals and
conservatives from all racial persuations
who come to save us from ourselves.
We need to see through those media
event grabbing politicians and the save
the world “do gooders” who speak with
forked tongues and listen with deaf
ears. Many of these fold are chief
architects and promoters of these failed
programs supposedly instituted to help
minorities and women.
So with that, we hope the point is
made that while it iscertainly okay to be
increasingly exposed, I went into a slow’
bum, having caught a glimpse of the
vineyard where the grapes of wrath are
stored.
Then, something else happened.
Maybe it was all too much for me.
Maybe I just had to believe the Bard of
Avon, who found that, “Sweet are the
uses of adversity; Which, like the toad,
ugly and venomous, Wears yet a pre
cious jewel in its head.” Anyway, it
dawned upon me that an important ele
ment of this long tragic history is either
systematically overlooked, or at best
noted perfunctorily. This neglected cle
ment is like a phoenix bird rising from
its own ashes; for it is the incredible
survival of the human spirit, in the face
of impossible odds. The slaves demon
strated the indestructibility of the hu
man essence. In this country alone, they
contributed 250 years of free labor, in
cluding som cof the hardest labor known
to humankind, often under the threat of
whip and lash.
In the midst of all this mental and
physical anguish and bludgeoning, the
slaves created their own folklore and
music, rising way up in the sky, with a
song as big as the soul, leaving to us all
the heritage of one of our purest Ameri
can art forms: the African American
spirituals. Indeed, beyond the spirituals,
much of our modern music still throbs
with the distinctive beats of their native
folk m usic-distant echoes of ancient
roots.
We cannot bring these victims of
our power and greed back and undo
what was done to them; nor can wc even
pay them a minimum wage. There is,
however, something wc can, and should,
do for them and their heirs, as well as for
us: weean recognize and face up to what
they did, and what we did.
On Veterans Day, wc place a wreath
on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a
tribute to the unsung, unknown soldiers
who fell on many battlefields. The wreath
and the ceremony say that a grateful
nation remembers.
Incredibly, so far as I know, there
has never been a tangible lasting tribute,
monument, or memorial created in rce-
beneficiaries of programs, we need to
keep in mind that there is an inherent
danger of becoming too dependent on
them. These programs should be used
only to give individuals who have been
previously denied opport unities a spring
board to self-sustaining enterprises.
Many of the programs to be dis
cussed will have significance not only
to the construction industry, but bridge
other business and career opportunity
arenas. While we eventually plan to
discuss each of these programs in some
detail, for now let’s just list them and
talk about some immediate observa
tions particulartly in one of the major
programs:
Construction im pacted program s
(not an all inclusive list)
ODOT Oregon Department of Trans
portation Supportive Services
City of Portland First Source Hiring
Program
•: •
PIC Private Industry Council
Employment Security Placement Serv
ices
•;
U rban League Employment Placement
Programs
;
Oregon Youth O utreach
Northeast Skills and W ork Force Cen
ter
N ortheast Econom ic Development
C orportation
Portland Development Commission
Portland Public School Home Repair
Program
BFit at Portland Community College :
OAM E Oregon Association of Minor- ;
ity Entrepreneurs
More next week...
ognition ol the slaves’ sacrifices, legacy
and contribution to our culture. I believe
that there should be such a monument,
and I think it is long overdue. This is the
greatest wish of my life, and has been
that for over twenty years.
Therefore, lest we forget, 1 propose
that a Monument to the Unknown Slave
be designed, created, and installed promi
nently in a public place, preferably on
govcmmcntgroundsintheNation’scapi-
tal. I further propose that an appropriate
inscription on this monument express
gratitude for, and recognition of, the
cultural legacy of the slaves, as well as
the worth and dignity of each individual
slave. Moreover, I propose that the in
scription express our hope that slavery,
in whatever form, shall perish from the
earth.
Finally, as I said, realization of this
proposal has long been the greatest de
sire of my life. Along the way, over the
years, several organizations, scholars,
leaders, and celebrities have expressed
approval and support of the concept and
proposal. The greatest advance, how
ever, came in 1990 when the African
Americans lor Humanism (AAH), un
der the able leadership of Mr. Norm
Allen, actually formed the National
Commission for the Establishment of a
Monument to the Unknown Slave, sup
ported by a large group of distinguished
scholars, writers, educators, politicians
(including state and national legisla
tors), journalists, musicians, actresses
and actors, as well as other celebrities.
I have scarcely been the same per
son since the spring of 1990, when I
learned that this great effort was being
organized: and I am really elated that the
march toward full implementation con
tinues today, extending to active pro
motion of appropriate measures in the
National Congress to authorize and en
able the project to go forward. This has
been coupled with a well planned public
relations program, lam profoundly gratc-
ful to Mr. Allen, to the AAH, and to the
National Commission for their power
ful efforts loward filling the vacancy of
one monument lacking: the MONU-
MEN1 K) I IIP. UNKNOWN SLAVE.